Knights knock off Tigers, top Panthers for 6-5A title

The Conway High football team went into Friday night’s regular season finale at West Florence with a tall order to fill. Not only did the Tigers need to beat the Knights, they had to do so by 20 or more points to win the region title via tiebreaker.

But West Florence had other plans that included claiming the Region 6-5A championship under first-year coach Jody Jenerette, doubling up Conway by a 26-13 score. The Knights (9-1 overall, 5-0 region) capped a clean sweep of the region schedule.

The defending region champion Tigers (3-6, 3-2) earned the No. 3 seed and will travel for next week’s opening round of the Class 5A playoffs.

Rival Carolina Forest (7-1, 4-1), which needed a Conway win by 19 or less to take the region title, settles for the No. 2 seed and a first-round playoff game at home next Friday.

The Knights established control early by scoring in virtually every way possible in the first quarter – a field goal, touchdown, extra point and safety – for a 12-0 lead. Conway quarterback Daquinton Grady threw a touchdown pass to Xavier Kinlaw to cut the deficit to 12-7.

The Tigers appeared to have the momentum headed into halftime, but QB counterpart Cooper Wallace connected on the first of two TD passes to Kevin Wells in the final seconds of the second quarter to carry a 19-7 advantage into the locker room.

Grady made his second TD pass of the game in the third quarter to pull the Tigers within a touchdown at 19-13, but the Wallace-to-Wells TD combo put the game away in the fourth period.

The Tigers will travel to River Bluff next Friday for the first round of the playoffs.